The former 'Home and Away' star is scheduled to appear before an Australian court in early February after being charged with eight counts of indecent assault among others.

Jan 12, 2019

AceShowbiz -
Australian actor/singer Craig McLachlan has been charged with multiple counts of indecent assault.

The former "Neighbours" and "Home and Away" star, 53, has been charged with eight counts of indecent assault, one of attempted indecent assault and one of common law assault and is scheduled to appear before Melbourne Magistrates' court in Australia on 8 February.

His spokesperson denied the charges in a statement, which read, "Craig is innocent of all these charges which will be vigorously defended."

The charges relate to allegations made by three actresses who came forward in January 2018 to accuse McLachlan of sexually assaulting, harassing and bullying them and intimidation during a 2014 touring production "The Rocky Horror Show", in which he played Dr. Frank N. Furter.

At the time, he called the claims "entirely false" and "baseless" and launched a defamation lawsuit against Australian news organisations Fairfax Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and his co-star Christie Whelan Browne, who claimed he pulled her underwear to one side and kissed her bum cheek while they were performing a sex scene, among other allegations.

His team are seeking damages, claiming that the actor's career has been effectively destroyed. The hearings in the defamation case were due to begin on 4 February.